


Five Part (Dis)Harmony

by midget_boss



Category: TMNT (2007)
Genre: Drabble Collection, Fluff and Angst, Gen, Not Beta Read, Slice of Life
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-22
Updated: 2019-11-22
Packaged: 2021-02-17 23:24:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,821
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21518167
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/midget_boss/pseuds/midget_boss
Summary: Some of the ways they fit together and some of the ways they don't.
Kudos: 14





	Five Part (Dis)Harmony

**Author's Note:**

> This is an ABC drabble collection I wrote for Livejournal shortly after the movie was released, so each drabble has a tag line under the word the drabble is based off of. All mistakes are mine.
> 
> Disclaimer: None of these characters are mine. 
> 
> Author's notes are at the end.

#### Appreciate

(Some things go beyond words.)

Between the four of them they had a set of unwritten … not rules. They were just facts that they knew which affected their behavior, even when they didn’t acknowledge it. Mikey was the baby and got away with most stuff, even annoying pranks that Raph would seriously hurt someone else for. Don was the person who could fix anything, if it could be fixed. Leo was Big Brother and got to tell them what to do. Raph did his own thing and everyone else just had to live with it. And they all loved each other, no matter what.

#### Buried

(Hide the things most precious to you.)

Splinter has taught his children many things, some of which he regrets now. He has taught them to stand on their own, to focus on a task and to hide their emotions. 

The latest argument ends in the usual manner. Raphael storms off into the sewers on his own. Leonardo stalks into the dojo, silent now. Michelangelo bounces to the kitchen, chattering loudly as he fills a bowl with every kind of ice cream available. Donatello sighs as he returns to his computer. 

As Splinter watches his children from his doorway he wonders which lesson he should regret the most. 

#### Caught

(There are many kinds of prisons.)

Don knows that nothing good ever comes from a silent lair. It means that at least one of his brothers is badly injured and the others are upset. Silence means Master Splinter is tending the injured or lying sick in his own bed. 

Worse, it means there’s nothing else he can do. Don will find himself unable to focus. His thoughts will swirl through his mind, creating a maze for which he has never found the exit. Trapped, he will have to wait for the soft sound of footsteps and a brother’s hand on his shoulder to set him free.

#### Dim

(A lack of light obscures what is.)

Candle light only reaches so far. Unless you fill the corners of a room with lit candles, they remain in darkness. Master Splinter has used a similar metaphor when teaching them about meditation. At least he thinks so. It sounds like something Master Splinter would say, anyway.

Not that he remembers everything their Sensei tells them. In fact, Mikey’s pretty sure he doesn’t remember even half the things Master Splinter has told them. It’s not that he doesn’t pay attention. Some things just don’t stick very well.

Especially with Raph right next to him, just as bored as he is. 

#### Erosion

(Slowly some things become less.)

When Leo sits in the stillness of his room he thinks he can feel the way time passes. He can almost see how it whittles away at his memories. Silence fills his head as he tries to remember why Mikey was crying as he clutched a toy in his hands. The smell of ash is absent as he watches Don proudly show off his first water heater. His father smiles, but he can’t taste that first piece of chocolate. 

Somehow Raph’s eyes still burn into his, as warm as the hand on his arm and the voice in his ears.

#### Fleeting

(Don’t linger, just move on.)

April’s visits always have a special effect on them, even more so when she brings Casey. Casey plays games with Mikey while he trades ridiculous insults with Raph. Don discusses something with April, alternately annoyed and amused as her attention drifts to her boyfriend every time he gets excited. 

Leo hovers near the pair, every now and then voicing an opinion. Mostly he watches Raph and the way the tension drains from him as he jokes with his two best friends. When their eyes meet they smile at each other and Leo fights the impulse to move closer to him.

#### Gift

(The most memorable gifts are the ones you didn‘t know about.)

His only excuse was that he hadn’t been expecting it. There was no logical reason for there to be presents under his bed. They had been stuffed as far back as they could go, as if someone had known that they shouldn’t be there. Leo resisted the urge to sneeze as he drew them out, the amount of dust on them growing the further back he went. 

Some of the presents were messily wrapped in gaudy paper or newspaper and others were perfectly wrapped in brown paper. He blinked to clear his vision as he sat amid the large pile.

#### Hallow

(Some things we make sacred.)

In the early years they had celebrated no holidays. Splinter’s mind had been focused on his training as a normal rat, so he had no memories of such events. After mutating he was too busy to pursue knowledge that wasn’t necessary to their survival. It wasn’t until the boys began to forage for more than just food that they learned of holidays. 

They had celebrated other ‘special’ days. That first day Splinter had found them all. The days he named them, which would become their birthdays. Most important, the day they were each given their weapons and became a team.

#### Interpretation

(You need a frame of reference to have a clue.)

Raph had been less confrontational than usual. By that he meant that Raph hadn’t been going out of his way to pick fights with him. 

In fact, Leo was beginning to think that Raph was avoiding him. Which was just bizarre, because Raph had never avoided him before. Even when he had hurt him, and Leo could admit that it had happened in their younger years, Raph had always faced him head on. 

Leo couldn’t come up with a single reason Raph would just walk away when he entered a room. Yet here he was, staring at his brother’s back. 

#### Jealous

(You always notice things you don‘t want to.)

There was something about Leo that had always held Raph’s attention. The same was true in reverse. You only had to watch them in the same room to know that. 

Raph and Leo usually sat next to each other, even if they had been arguing only minutes before. They never looked to see where the other was, they just went. It was like there was some invisible cord that drew them together. 

When they weren’t in the same room, they even turned toward the other. Well, Raph did anyway. Mikey didn’t really spend a whole lot of time with Leo.

#### Keep

(There are some things we won’t let go of and some that won‘t let go of us.)

There are few things that Raphael has wanted enough to hold onto. Objects don’t hold a whole lot of meaning for him. The Nightwatcher gear he usually leaves in it’s hiding place, incomplete without the helmet that sits in his father’s trophy case. Now and then he takes the suit out and remembers.

His Nightwatcher bike is another story. It sits in the garage now, a place he had never dared to keep it before. Every day he cleans it, turning it on long enough to get gas and motor oil flowing. Some days he wishes he could let go.

#### Leave

(Was there ever anywhere he wanted to go?)

Leo had been proud to be chosen to go for training. Master Splinter felt he was capable of going out into the world. He had accepted Michelangelo’s enthusiastic congratulations and Donatello’s quieter support. Even Raph’s distant silence somehow felt right. 

It wasn’t until he left the Ancient One that Leo realized he could go anywhere now. He was no longer restricted to New York and her sewers. All of the places he had ever read about he could visit. Yet the only thing he dreamed about was a rickety old table with five mismatched chairs and the sound of laughter.

#### Mad

(This went beyond his personal lunacy.)

They often called him crazy and Raphael didn’t deny it. No matter which definition they used, they weren’t far off. He often wrapped his anger around him like a cloak and he knew there was a certain degree of lunacy in that. In fact, Raphael was usually pretty comfortable with his brand of insanity. It was as familiar to him as his own hands.

Recently, however, he’d been having a harder time with it. Sometimes it surged around him when he didn’t want it and other times it deserted him entirely. He knows it’s Leo’s fault and that scares him.

#### Naked

(Strip away the layers to leave everything bare.)

Once an idea came into his head there was no stopping it until he had satisfied his curiosity. On the other hand, if he wasn’t curious chances were that he never would be. For instance, he could admit that there were things about Mikey’s video games that were interesting. He had never had any desire to learn any more about them, though, much to Mikey’s disappointment and his own private relief.

Some things defied this. Raph was an enigma that Don alternately wanted to solve and wanted nothing to do with. He refused to be figured out and put aside.

#### Odd

(The natural thing doesn’t always appear to be natural.)

Mikey prides himself on being almost completely different from all three of his brothers, in different ways. Leo is way too serious. Donnie is almost scarily wrapped up in his projects. Raph has a notoriously short fuse. 

He also prides himself on being a whole lot like each of his brothers, only better. Mikey can worry without hovering. Creating something never requires him to lock himself away from everyone else. Expressing himself does not mean he has to blow up.

Watching them has taught him a lot, he just wishes he knew how to help them become more like him.

#### Peace

(A moment of stillness.)

Now and then Raphael goes to one of the sewer drains near the water at sunset. The one with the best view of the Statue of Liberty. He sits there, watching as the lights come on and the tiny figures of people blur into shadows. Voices, too far away to make out words, blend with the roar of engines of every type and in every state of disrepair. His blood pulses through him as his heart takes on the same cadence as the song of New York. Raphael is silent as something shifts inside him before it settles into place

#### Quantity

(Sometimes quality isn’t the most important thing.)

Having four young boys, Splinter had often found himself hard-pressed to give all of them the time and attention they needed. Michelangelo had always demanded what he needed of his Father, showing him his drawings and telling him stories about them. Donatello had never needed a whole lot of attention, unless he had some new design to show his father. Leonardo had taken up most of his father’s time, especially once ninja training had begun. 

Years later, when he searched for something to keep Raphael near him, Splinter would realize that he didn’t remember what they might have done together.

#### Revival

(This is not the worst day of his life.)

If Raphael were honest with himself, things weren’t that bad. All three brothers are home safe and mostly sound (except Leo, but Mr. Perfect is up training anyway if his ears aren‘t deceiving him). His father walks lighter than he has in years (two to be precise, still more audible than before Leo’s trip as he heads for the kitchen). 

Don and Mike are both still asleep. Their breathing, soft and loud, echoes in their shared bedroom. All around him the sounds of his family fill the quiet. A scream catches in his throat as fire burns away the numbness.

#### Steep

(Sharp declines are not for the faint of heart.)

In the early years of their ninja training there had been a learning curve until Leo had ruined it, soaring so far above the others that they had struggled to keep up. Eventually, Donatello and Michelangelo had accepted that intelligence and natural athleticism were not enough to allow them to measure up to Leo. They settled for their own pursuits, leaving their eldest brother behind in their own ways.

Raphael didn’t have that luxury. He had no obvious talent outside of the dojo. So he fought until he could match Leo, their private score of wins and losses nearly equal. 

#### Trust

(Little things add up.)

So much time on his own had not improved … anything, really. Well, he is faster than he once was. Stronger, too, thanks to the weight he had carried with him. Somehow, it didn’t feel as thought he had much to show for the last two years. His family looks different from how he remembers them. They look at him differently, too. That is how he knows he does not look the same. 

Everything is strange between them now. Something intangible has been lost along the way. Yet everyday starts and ends the same, five souls dancing around each other.

#### Unilateral

(Things look different from opposite ends.)

They have a hard time finding common ground. Leo sees the big picture and tries to plan for everything, taking into consideration past mistakes. Raph sees the part right in front of him and doesn’t look any farther. There is a place in between, but neither knows how to get there.

Perhaps they didn’t want to find that middle ground back then. Back before Leo lost himself in his own mind and Raphael lost himself in his rage. Now there is a desperation to their arguments. Neither knows how to make himself understood, only that there must be a way.

#### Vision

(Do you see what’s there, or what might be?)

Leonardo and Raphael have always been wrapped up in each other. Splinter has always known this. In their early years, where one went the other was sure to follow. As they grew older he had urged them to spend time with their other siblings, fearing that they would inadvertently create a gap between themselves and their other brothers. 

His attempts have met with limited success. Either could spend time with one or both of their brothers, although it was more difficult for Raphael. Both together could not, unless they were working. When they are together, everything else just fades away.

#### Wake

(Is it a new start when it's always the same?)

Mornings begin in silence. Leo moves silently from his bed to the dojo to start his day. By the time he leaves, Splinter has made tea. He puts the coffee on as Don and Raph argue quietly as to who will get the bathroom first, neither willing to put forth the effort to get there first. It’s just as well. Don is less coordinated in the morning.

Both are seated at the table by the time Mikey joins them, a grin splitting his face. Raph snarls at him. Don barely glances around his coffee cup. Leo and Splinter both smile.

#### X-ray

(Peak at that which lies beneath the skin.)

There are moments when he thinks he knows what it’s all about. His life. Why he lives. It’s in the four part harmony of breathing when they rest, loud and soft and in between but always the same rhythm. 

Sometimes he thinks he can hear the blood flowing through their veins, the same steady pace as a river. Faster when it swells, adrenaline like melted snow from the mountains. Slower when nothing disturbs the flow, boredom the same as a drought. The path itself doesn’t change. 

Only Raphael resists, flowing into dark places where the pressure builds until it explodes.

#### Yesterday

(The past travels with you, always.)

Don stares at the screen in front of him, frozen in place. He’d been cleaning up his computer files, sorting through what could and should be archived so he could make room for a new program. Most of the footage from the surveillance cameras for the last few years he had simply thrown out. Just out of curiosity he had randomly clicked on one from three years ago. 

Raphael’s face in profile took up only a small part of the monitor as he looked toward their separate bedrooms, but the frustration and longing written on his features was clearly visible. 

#### Zenith

(How do you know you’ve reached the peak?)

He’d like to say that the worst is behind them now. Leo is back, safe and sound. Raph is around most of the time and actually awake. Don isn’t attached to the phone every time he comes home. Finally, Master Splinter doesn’t drift around looking lost.

The thing is, he’s thought that before. He’d be the first to tell you he doesn’t dwell on what could happen or what has already happened. The older two do that enough for all of them. It’s just, they’re more of a family than they’ve been in awhile. He’s afraid of losing that again.

**Author's Note:**

> I'm not sure what the best way to post drabble collections is. One single chapter full of them, or as individual chapters? I don't really like having to wait for the next page to load myself after only 100 words, but then I don't like to be interrupted. I would appreciate any constructive feedback you are willing to offer. Thank you for reading.


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